


Edgy

by Matchgirl42



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character conflict, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 06:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3316919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matchgirl42/pseuds/Matchgirl42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the X-Men universe.  This was originaly written about 6 years ago, and is set just after X2.   Logan is having a difficult time trusting the X-man he’s paired up with to search for Pyro and bring him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Edgy

On the one hand, it is so very hard to figure this guy out. He’s so mysterious, and so gruff, and even he doesn’t know about his own past, not really. That makes him quite an intriguing puzzle, but a difficult one to solve.

On the other hand, he’s a guy. I’ve had guys figured out since I was ten. Having been raised by a prostitute mother does have some advantages.

“Logan!” I called ahead, to where he was pounding down the hallway to the Professor’s office, making passing students cower against the wall. “Wait up, will you? C’mon, man, I can’t walk as fast as you!”

He just snorted at me. “I fell for that once, Elaine. I’m not falling for it again.”

 

Damn. Maybe he was starting to figure me out, just a little. I don’t like it when people know too much about me. That had been another of Momma’s lessons, before she died on my 14th birthday; keep your mystery. Make them sweat, trying to figure out what you’re going to do next.

And then I knew what to do. Feeling my eyes starting to tingle, I set myself to rush at him, keeping my eyes down to avoid letting him see the lightnings running through them. Once he figured out what that meant, he had been impossible to surprise until I had learned to keep my eyes down so he couldn’t see. And keep my eyes down in situations where I wasn’t going to unleash electricity, to keep him guessing.

In the blink of an eye, I was beside Logan, and tickled his ear with the smallest amount possible of electricity that I could release through my fingertips. Luckily I moved fast, or the claws that came up to meet me might have gone in, this time. We’d played this game before, too. He hadn’t managed to catch me…yet.

“What’s the matter, wolf-man?” I taunted from 15 feet ahead of him. “Afraid you’re going to get…singed? You know I don’t singe people I consider friends. And what’s a little buzz…short of singing…between friends?”

“It’s whether or not I’m a friend that I’m worried about,” he said gruffly, rubbing the back of his neck irritably.

Smiling to myself, I let him pace to within 3 feet of me before I moved again, another 15 feet further down the hallway, and pouted. “Oh, that stung, wolf-man. Of course I consider you a friend.”

The only reply I got was a sarcastic snort. He plowed toward me, not slowing at all. Fine. Two could play that game.

Turning around, I started to plow down the hallway, copying him stride for stride, glower for glower, only 10 feet in front of him. I heard some of the children giggling as I went by. I could also hear growls from behind me, but I didn’t let that stop me. He would never catch me. Nobody could ever catch me. I was just too fast.

The door to the office opened ahead on cue, and I strode in, still in imitation mode. I stalked over to the windows and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed, glaring at the professor seated behind his desk. Logan came in a few seconds after I had posed myself, and if anything, his face soured further once he got a good luck at where and how I was standing. He glared at me for a second, then growling, grabbed a chair and sat down.

Professor Xavier regarded us with calm eyes. “I trust the recon mission went…well?” He inquired.

I quirked an eyebrow at him. He knew Logan and I worked together well; it was only after the work was completed that the problems began. If you could call it problems. Me, I was always having fun. Well, almost always.

“We found out where Magneto’s got Pyro stashed, anyways. That’s a start.” Logan offered.

“Yes,” sighed Xavier. “We must get the young man back. It’s not too late for him.”

“I hope not,” Logan replied. “I hate to think what it would mean for us if he does fully join Magneto’s team. That could prove disastrous.”

Snorting, I stood away from the windows and stalked over to the desk. “I hate to think what it would mean for the boy if he does fully join Magneto’s team. He hasn’t killed, yet. When and if he does…there might be no turning back from that.”

“Agreed. Meet with Scott and formulate a plan, and include Ororo when she gets back. Hopefully she’ll have more to add.”

I joined Logan as he headed for the door, but hearing what Xavier said next froze both of us in our tracks.

“Tell me, why is it the two of you can never get along except when there’s a job to do?”

“Well…uh…” Logan stammered.

Pivoting, I faced Xavier, and let my indignation show on my face. “He,” I said, pointing over my shoulder at Logan, “doesn’t fully trust me. Yet.”

Logan snorted behind me. “Hard to trust someone that can shock you into paralysis at any given moment.”

Steepling his fingers in front of his face, Xavier regarded both of us with hooded eyes. “So you trust her when you’re working, but not after. You trust her enough to do her job, but you don’t trust her to behave when the job’s finished?”

Grunting, Logan crossed him arms and stared at the floor. “Damn telepaths…” I heard him mutter.

“Logan, you have to move beyond this. You know I’m going to keep putting the two of you together until you do.”

Smirking, I turned back to Logan and winked at him.

“And you, Elaine,” Xavier continued, “need to prove to Logan that he can trust you. Otherwise, he never will.”

Spinning back around, I gave Xavier my most playful yet innocent look. “He’s afraid of getting shocked by me. I can’t help it if I’m…shocking,” I said, reaching back to caress the side of Logan’s face, the tips of my fingers crackling slightly enough that it shouldn’t be noticeable. Unless, of course, those fingers were less than an inch from your face.

Which was a mistake.

Suddenly, I found my wrist held in an iron grip. “Got you,” Logan growled. Triumphantly.

“You just got lucky,” I scoffed, trying to twist my arm free.

“No,” Logan sneered, “You got careless. Tsk, tsk, Elaine. An X-man should know better than to get…careless.”

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” I grunted, straining against the grip on my wrist.

“No,” Logan said, amusement tinging his voice. I noticed it was starting to sound strained, as I slowly amped up the juice running from the skin of my wrist into his hand.

“Logan….” Xavier said warningly. “Let go of her. Now.”

Growling again, Logan dropped my arm. Rubbing it gently, already feeling the bruises that would show later, I glared up at him. “I owe you for that, wolf-man. Don’t you ever forget that.” Then in the blink of an eye, my feet barely touching the ground, I zipped around him, flying through the hallway, out the door, and through the grounds.

Elaine…. I heard in my head. I shut him out. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, least of all Charles. He’s the only one who truly knew my background, knew where I came from. Hell, he had rescued me from the street. Not that I had needed rescue, not really, but…he knew. Knew who my mother had been. Knew what I had been about to choose to become, to feed myself. I couldn’t have kept stealing forever. Even I left fingerprints.

But he was the only person who knew. And I didn’t want Logan getting that close. Keep your mystery, my mother’s voice floated up from the past. Never let them figure out who you truly are…

“I’m trying, mom. I’m trying. But you didn’t tell me it would be this difficult…”


End file.
